

OK, let's get this out of the way: Babette Davis is 71 years old, ya'll. She's 71. Seventy. Seven-one.
And. We. Are. Shook.
Davis is a vegan chef and owner of Stuff I Eat, a restaurant in Inglewood, California. One day, while taking a trip down memory lane, she randomly got the idea to pose in a bathing suit.
She tells Yahoo Life:
"Well, my daughter had sent some photos of she and myself. I must have been in my early forties, maybe late thirties and I noticed that I hadn't really changed very much aesthetically. I thought, well, for my 70th birthday, I'm gonna do a photo shoot in a bathing suit."
In the week leading up to her December 7th birthday, Davis shared an image a day to social media, dubbing the series "Seven at Seventy". She donned a black tankini with a matching headwrap and heels, the pictures instantaneously resonated, sending her social media into a frenzy.
The world was amazed at what they saw, even Auntie Tabitha who was just as surprised at her age as we were.
Davis gives credit to her vegan and active lifestyle, where she regularly works out, and she has amassed more than 125,000 followers on Instagram who subscribe to her message of body positivity and confidence. While she credits her self-love attitude as a major contributing factor to looking amazing at 70, working on her core has "always been massively" important to her as well.
She jokingly continued:
"All I had to do was see one life alert commercial! And I thought to myself, I am not going to have to call a fire department to get me up!"
Her journey began after one night, her husband made a meal for her, she transitioned her diet "overnight and I never looked back." She even began selling vegan treats from a cart to preach the vegan word, which would consistently having lines around the block, all clawing to get their hands on her food. And soon thereafter seeing the response, she and her husband decided to open a restaurant, which they have been current location since 2008, and even throughout the COVID-pandemic, haven't closed once.
And Davis says her journey is far from over.
She wakes up at 2:00 every morning and gets a workout in around 3am for thirty minutes. Then, she goes to her restaurant, where she stays and cooks until it opens.
"So that's how my day runs. Sometimes I get tired...but I have a lot of energy."
Today, with her newfound fame, Davis is looking forward to the future and what's to come on her journey.
"People get depressed about their age, but I'm so excited about every age I am. I'm so excited. What's the next thing I'm going to be able to do? Am I going to be able to defy some odds? What am I going to be able to do at 75? Retire?"
Never.
Get it, queen!
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Feature image courtesy of Babette Davis/Instagram
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Charmin Michelle is a southern native and creative spirit who works as a content marketer and events manager in Chicago. She enjoys traveling, #SummertimeChi, and the journey of mastering womanhood. Connect with her on Instagram @charminmichelle.
Eva Marcille On Starring In 'Jason’s Lyric Live' & Being An Audacious Black Woman
Eva Marcille has taken her talents to the stage. The model-turned-actress is starring in her first play, Jason’s Lyric Live alongside Allen Payne, K. Michelle, Treach, and others.
The play, produced by Je’Caryous Johnson, is an adaptation of the film, which starred Allen Payne as Jason and Jada Pinkett Smith as Lyric. Allen reprised his role as Jason for the play and Eva plays Lyric.
While speaking to xoNecole, Eva shares that she’s a lot like the beloved 1994 character in many ways. “Lyric is so me. She's the odd flower. A flower nonetheless, but definitely not a peony,” she tells us.
“She's not the average flower you see presented, and so she reminds me of myself. I'm a sunflower, beautiful, but different. And what I loved about her character then, and even more so now, is that she was very sure of herself.
"Sure of what she wanted in life and okay to sacrifice her moments right now, to get what she knew she deserved later. And that is me. I'm not an instant gratification kind of a person. I am a long game. I'm not a sprinter, I'm a marathon.
America first fell in love with Eva when she graced our screens on cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model in 2004, which she emerged as the winner. Since then, she's ventured into different avenues, from acting on various TV series like House of Payne to starring on Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Je-Caryous Johnson Entertainment
Eva praises her castmates and the play’s producer, Je’Caryous for her positive experience. “You know what? Je’Caryous fuels my audacity car daily, ‘cause I consider myself an extremely audacious woman, and I believe in what I know, even if no one else knows it, because God gave it to me. So I know what I know. That is who Je’Caryous is.”
But the mom of three isn’t the only one in the family who enjoys acting. Eva reveals her daughter Marley has also caught the acting bug.
“It is the most adorable thing you can ever see. She’s got a part in her school play. She's in her chorus, and she loves it,” she says. “I don't know if she loves it, because it's like, mommy does it, so maybe I should do it, but there is something about her.”
Overall, Eva hopes that her contribution to the role and the play as a whole serves as motivation for others to reach for the stars.
“I want them to walk out with hope. I want them to re-vision their dreams. Whatever they were. Whatever they are. To re-see them and then have that thing inside of them say, ‘You know what? I'm going to do that. Whatever dream you put on the back burner, go pick it up.
"Whatever dream you've accomplished, make a new dream, but continue to reach for the stars. Continue to reach for what is beyond what people say we can do, especially as [a] Black collective but especially as Black women. When it comes to us and who we are and what we accept and what we're worth, it's not about having seen it before. It's about knowing that I deserve it.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Feature image by Leon Bennett/WireImage
Tracee Ellis Ross Is Still Living A 'Robust' Life Despite Sometimes Grieving Not Being Partnered
Tracee Ellis Ross sat down with former first lady Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson for their IMO podcast to have a candid discussion about dating, marriage, and family. At 52, the beloved actress is single, but is still open to finding her person. However, she realizes that she has to navigate dating differently, describing herself as a "unicorn."
“I’m a very unique sort of unicorn of a woman, so it's gonna take a unique person,” she explained. "And in the meantime, I've really learned how to live my life and enjoy it and not sit around waiting."
Calling herself a "choiceful woman," she has had to push against culture norms and found that many of her experiences with men around her age were challenging due to the toxic masculinity they had been raised in. Many of their views about relationships conflicts with how she lives her life, so she tends to date younger.
“It's not just that I'm older. I’m also very embodied. I am a full, very whole person who knows myself, who is in charge of my life and who lives a very full, just robust life," she said.
Regardless if they're younger or older, Tracee has made it clear that she isn't settling and won't be in a relationship for the sake of having a partner. Even when loneliness creeps.
“As much as grief does surface for me around not having children and not having a partner, I still wouldn’t want the wrong partner. At all, I’m not interested in that. You have to make my life better, it can’t just be ‘I’m in a relationship just to be in a relationship,” she said.
Fans have watched pieces of Tracee's life played out on social media and TV. Just one look at her Instagram, you see that the black-ish star lives her life to fullest and it's filled with fashion, family, and all-round fabulousness.
"Even though the grief does emerge, and that comes, and I hold that, I think of what I’ve done. I think I woke up every morning trying to do my best. I didn’t wake up one morning and be like I’m gonna mess this day up. So I must be where I’m supposed to be.”
She added, “And sometimes I think of all of the things I’ve done—the courage that I’ve had to have, what I had to learn to how to navigate as a single person with no one to hide behind. It's built a really beautiful experience around me and I have incredible friends."
The Black Mirror actress has spoken about dating before and has always stated that she doesn't allow singleness stop her from living her best life.
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Feature image by Raymond Hall/GC Images